"I know Jiraiya's disciples well!" Naruto said with a grin, "But I can't just tell strange people, can I?"
His teammates all rolled their eyes. It wasn't just 'knowing' him, it was practically being intimate with him.
The woman, who looked to be in her thirties or forties, said, "Excuse me, my name is Tokiwa, and this is Miss Shizuka. We are from Nadeshiko Village."
Nadeshiko Village, the Daughter Country of the Shinobi World, is a village populated only by women. To ensure the village's continuation, women of marrying age would challenge strong outsiders. Those who could defeat them would be brought back to the village to have children. After that, whether the men stayed or left was up to them.
Decades ago, when Jiraiya was traveling the world, he passed by Nadeshiko Village and, naturally, infiltrated it to gather material, only to be discovered.
At that time, Jiraiya was still a tall and handsome young man. The then-Village Chief, who was also Shizuka's master, took a liking to him at first sight and insisted on dueling him.
According to Nadeshiko Village's rules, Jiraiya could do whatever he wanted if he won, but Jiraiya stated that although he was in the Shinobi World and drifting about, he already had someone in his heart.
So, despite the Village Chief being very beautiful, Jiraiya chose to let her off and fought her to a draw. In the end, he used a delaying tactic to postpone the martial arts tournament to the next generation, to their disciples.
With Jiraiya's old lecherous style, being able to give up the entire forest for Tsunade, a crooked-neck tree, one can imagine how deep his feelings were.
And so, decades later, the Village Chief passed away, and Shizuka, as her successor, came to the door to fulfill the promise of that year.
In fact, Nadeshiko Shizuka originally had a first love, but he was just an ordinary person. According to the dozen or so seconds of introduction in the anime, he was probably the classic useless male lead in Japanese light novels who was good for nothing except being kind. Unfortunately, that didn't work in this world, and he died.
Shizuka was heartbroken, believing that she wasn't strong enough to protect the one she loved, so she focused on training to become stronger.
After experiencing the blow of her master's death, Shizuka decided to leave the village with Tokiwa to find Jiraiya's disciple and fulfill the promise of that year.
After Tokiwa finished explaining the whole story, Naruto nudged Kakashi with his elbow and asked, "Any thoughts?"
Kakashi thought for a moment and said, "Nadeshiko Village, I've heard of that village, but whether there's such a promise or not, we'll have to ask Lord Jiraiya."
Naruto sighed. I'm not asking you what you think about this matter, I'm asking you if you have any thoughts about starting a family for the Hatake Clan. You're destined to be single.
Sakura and Temari exclaimed, "There really is such a village..."
Tokiwa was completely at ease and said, "Judging by the looks of you, you're heading back to Konoha, right? Could we travel with you?"
Kakashi didn't object either. Anyway, they were going to Konoha, so traveling together was fine.
The group stayed in the inn for one night, and the next day they continued their journey, only with two more strangers in the group.
Tokiwa was more talkative, and Kakashi was happy to get more information.
Shizuka, on the other hand, didn't say a few words along the way, looking like she had seen through the world, and even Sasuke's handsome face was ignored, which reassured Sakura a lot.
Sakura saw Shizuka take off her cloak at the inn yesterday. Perhaps because she was a few years older than them, her figure was even better than Hinata's now, so she immediately became vigilant, fearing that this woman would have some crazy idea and challenge Sasuke.
The group arrived in Konoha in a strange atmosphere. Izumo Kotetsu greeted them enthusiastically, "Yo, Kakashi is back."
He also mysteriously leaned into Kakashi's ear, raised his eyebrows, and asked in a low voice, "Why did you bring back a few beauties?"
Tokiwa and Shizuka were stunned when they heard Kakashi's name. Isn't he Sakata Gintoki? They looked at the group strangely. So these people were using fake names?
Sasuke's expression remained unchanged, completely unaware that his lie had been exposed. Naruto and Sakura's eyes flickered, and they didn't respond. Temari didn't say anything either. Anyway, it's your village's business, I'll just watch the fun.
Kakashi chuckled and turned his head to say, "It's reasonable for a ninja to use a code name outside, right?"
Tokiwa reluctantly accepted Kakashi's statement. She didn't expect this person to be the famous Konoha Technician.
Kakashi explained the situation to Izumo Kotetsu, and asked Tokiwa and Shizuka to wait at the gate while they went to submit the mission and confirm with Jiraiya.
"I'm going to find the Pervy Sage, you guys go turn in the mission!" Naruto directly slipped away.
Kakashi was helpless; he always felt Naruto wanted to trick his dad. Oh well, I'll chat with Minato-sensei later.
Naruto very rarely caught Jiraiya in the office; he was actually working seriously?
Jiraiya looked up and asked, "Naruto, what's up?"
Naruto closed the door, crossed his arms, and pretended to be serious, saying, "Pervy Sage, your deeds have been exposed. Come with me for a trip!"
"Impossible!" Jiraiya slammed his pen on the table and said, "The new place I found is..."
Listening to Jiraiya's gradually weakening voice, Naruto blinked, feeling like he had accidentally tricked him into revealing something extraordinary: "Keep talking, what about the new place you found?"
Jiraiya looked at Naruto's surprised expression, realizing that he seemed to have misunderstood and confessed without being beaten. He coughed to cover up his guilty conscience and said, "Ahem, I said the new place I found is very suitable for setting up hidden posts. Even you can't know about it."
Naruto looked at him with disdain. Who are you kidding? Even a toe would know the hidden post is near the bathhouse, personally supervised by him.
"Alright, tell me what's up. I'm busy," Jiraiya changed the subject.
Naruto casually said, "It's about the romantic debts you incurred outside before. Now people have come knocking on your door."
Jiraiya said righteously, "Don't talk nonsense. Where would I have any romantic debts?"
"They're from Nadeshiko Village, and they're waiting to see you at the village gate right now." Naruto was curious if Jiraiya could still remember.
"Nadeshiko Village..." Jiraiya showed a nostalgic look.
Just then, the office door was slammed open, and Tsunade leaned against the doorframe, holding her burdens in front of her, and asked kindly, "Continue, what about Nadeshiko Village?"
Jiraiya: OvO
"Tsunade, let me explain!"
Oh ho, that's the standard guilty tone. Even if nothing happened, it sounds like something did. Naruto chose to watch the fun.
Tsunade glanced at him: "You talk, I'm listening."
"The thing is..." Jiraiya quickly told the story of what happened back then.
Tsunade's expression softened a little, and she looked at Naruto: "Is that so?"
"Apart from his boasting about being handsome, dashing, and charming countless girls, it's generally true. And the person who competed with the Pervy Sage back then has already passed away."
Naruto didn't continue to trick him. Did Tsunade and Jiraiya's relationship possibly progress during this time?
Jiraiya, who had basically overcome the crisis, became cheeky again: "Hey, Naruto, what do you mean 'apart from that part'!"
Naruto: "Hehe."
Tsunade: "Hehe."
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